Microsoft's New Gaming Technology Is So Good

LOS ANGELES: forthcoming Microsoft's motion sensitive controller for the Xbox 360, Kinect, fun, impressive and feels at times quite magical, but it is not aimed at hardcore gamers and technology still needs to be refined.
It is the first impression after having played a couple of hours with Kinect at this year's E3 show in Los Angeles. Kinect using an advanced camera to keep track of your movements, facial expressions and your body language and turns as it were, you controller. There is a built-in microphone so you can use voice commands, and the whole idea is that you do not have to think about the buttons on game pads and remote controls.

The system will recognize you
This means that you can log on to Xbox Live, just put yourself in front of the sensor, and navigate the menu with his hands as if you were in a science-fiction movies. In some areas seems technology is still relatively young and rough at the edges; system is very sensitive towards your movements, but you should for instance not press into the air by hand to make a choice instead hold your hand still in a three to five seconds on the way to show the system what you really want. It feels actually a slightly
unnatural, and we wonder how many will take the break strange and annoying.
There will be 15 different games ready when Kinect find their way into the Danish store shelves sometime in November. We had the opportunity to try a handful of them, and it is clear that Microsoft is not going after the general gamers, who until now have purchase the company's Xbox 360 console to play games like Gears of War and Halo. Instead Kinect against our boyfriends, parents and the young audience. The games are very simple and straightforward, and encourages you to play them with others, for example when you get friends and family visiting. Put another way: Kinect feels like a kind of advanced Wii where you do not need to have a controller in your hand and can use the whole body.
It's fun
Most importantly it is fun, and here the answer is simple lovely: Yes! It is hard not to get a smile and a sweat when you are grappling with such Kinect Joy Ride, where you have to keep a virtual steering wheel out of the air and use your body to give the speed boost and do stunts. We had also fun with Kinect Sports Bowling, when you need to keep the arm to the side to take a bowling ball and then send it down the runway. Kinect watching how you stand, your hand and you twisting in the wrist, and if you can not concentrate, so you can throw a ball into the adjacent lane or smash floor.
The most promising launch games Dance Central from Harmonix, the creators of Rock Band. Here you imitate dance moves on the screen and do it in the right rhythm. It's fun, making good use of the technology and indeed appear to be able to keep the promise to teach you more than 600 real dance moves and over 90 routines.
The young audience will no doubt fall in love with Kinectimals game where you have to take you on a virtual pet. Here Microsoft aims for the small girl hearts to revive seriously cute puppies and kittens from endangered species as tigers and leopards. The pet comes over and licks the screen when the game starts and you can cuddle and pet it by several hands, and playing it behind your ear. You can teach your Kinectimal a lot of tricks, play with it and give it commands. We tried for example to lie us down quietly on the floor and our pets on the screen so decided also to play dead. It is irresistible and will certainly be a hit. 
Also for movies, music and video chat
Kinect also has a great potential for ordinary home entertainment. It feels super cool to browse a catalog movies or music collection with your hands and you can even control the volume or skip back and forth in the film by using hand commands out into the air. You can also give voice commands to your Xbox 360 and use the built-in camera to start a video chat with other Kinect users or friends on Windows Live Messenger neværket.
Now that Microsoft also launched a new, smaller Xbox 360 model, which supposedly is quiet as a mouse, so it might look as though the firm has a truly effective Trojan horse to dominate all entertainment in the living room.